In the traditions of

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

, Losi was a giant and a son of

Tagaloa In Samoan mythology, Tagaloa (also known as Tagaloa-Lagi or Tagaloa, Lagi of the Heavens/Skies) is generally accepted as the supreme ruler,

, who instructed him to go and catch fish for the gods. Losi obeyed, but played a trick on the gods by laying a fish at the door of each of them, causing them to slip and fall. Losi then stole a slip of

taro Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Africa ...

plant and smuggled it back to earth, where it became a staple of

n diet.

References

*R.D. Craig, ''Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology'' (Greenwood Press: New York, 1989), 143–4. Samoan mythology {{Oceania-myth-stub